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Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress spokesperson, has landed his party's government in Andhra Pradesh in an embarrassing situation.
Singhvi, who is a lawyer by profession, is representing multinational seed giant Monsanto against the K. Rosaiah government.

Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress spokesperson, has landed his party's government in Andhra Pradesh in an embarrassing situation.

Singhvi, who is a lawyer by profession, is representing multinational seed giant Monsanto against the K. Rosaiah government.

Monsanto had last week moved the state high court, challenging the government's authority to fix the trait price (royalty) on Bt cotton seeds. The royalty - for the technology transfer - is collected from local seed companies.

Singhvi appealed that the government be stopped from reducing the price.

Justice C. V. Nagarjuna Reddy then directed the government to look into the issue and take appropriate action.

For the past two months, Monsanto has been indirectly forcing the state government, through local seed companies, to increase the Bt cotton seed price by 30-50 per cent. The company has been demanding the hike saying the research and development costs have increased.

The representatives of the National Seed Association of India had recently met Rosaiah and sought revision of the Bt cotton seed prices. They wanted the price of 450 gm of seeds of Bt-1 variety to be raised to Rs 950 and that of Bt-2 variety to be increased to Rs 1,050. The current rates are Rs 650 and Rs 700 respectively.

But on Saturday, state agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy announced there would be no hike in the prices this season. A government order to this effect is expected on Monday.

"The farmers have suffered during the Kharif and Rabi seasons. They are not in a position to bear any extra burden," he said.

Former legislator M. Kodanda Reddy, who is heading the farmers' wing in the state Congress, said Singhvi shouldn't have represented Monsanto.

"Being the official spokesperson of the party at the national level, it is not proper for him to challenge the state government's decisions," he said.

Reddy said he had written to party head Sonia Gandhi about it. "It gives the Opposition an opportunity to question the Congress's sincerity towards the farmers," he said.

Singhvi, however, said he had no idea about any such complaint. "I am not aware of any letter from any Congress leader in Andhra Pradesh," he said.

He said the case had nothing to do with the party. "I am appearing in the case purely in the capacity of a lawyer. I never mix my profession with my politics," Singhvi said.

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